Old-Growth Forests in Urban Nature Reserves: Balancing Risks for Visitors and Biodiversity Protection in Warsaw, Poland

Andrzej Długoński, Thilo Wellmann () and Dagmar Haase
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Andrzej Długoński: Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, 01-938 Warsaw, Poland
Thilo Wellmann: Landscape Ecology Lab, Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Dagmar Haase: Landscape Ecology Lab, Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-24

Abstract: Urban nature reserves in Poland are precious relics of ancient nature with preserved biodiversity. They consist of valuable trees several 100 years old, are biodiverse, and are valuable recreational spaces right in and around cities. It is therefore critical to manage tradeoffs between visitor safety due to, e.g., falling dead branches and the need for old-grown trees for biodiversity conservation. This study aimed to determine whether airborne laser scanning data (LiDAR) can confirm that trees exhibiting the worst crown defoliation are the first to be damaged in storms. Our results show that during Storm Eunice in 2022, the detected defoliated trees, in fact, were damaged the most. Despite such evidence available to the city, no targeted changes to the management of the reserves were taken after the storm. One of the forests was completely closed to visitors; in the other forest, areas with damaged trees were fenced off, and then, the remaining branches and fallen trees were removed to make the forest available for recreation. Using available evidence such as LiDAR data, we propose more targeted and nuanced forms of managing biodiversity conservation in conjunction with visitor safety. This includes the establishment of priority areas, visitor information, and visitor management. This way, airborne laser scanning and Geographic Information Systems can be used to balance management needs accounting for both biodiverse old-grown forest structures while at the same time providing added safety for visitors.

Keywords: LiDAR; urban forest; biodiversity protection; urban green infrastructure; risk management; remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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